Bankruptcy filings and corporate-debt restructurings have fallen way off as the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and other major central banks pin interest rates near zero, he said. The policies have allowed commercial banks to cut interest rates for their corporate customers, in turn allowing companies to access new financing rather than face down lenders in bankruptcy court.

“We’re in an era of unprecedented low interest rates and accommodative-lending policies for now a fourth year,” he said in an interview on the sidelines of the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council conference in Washington. ”It doesn’t appear that’s going to change here, or in Europe, in the short or intermediate term.”

Business bankruptcy filings were down 12% in the third quarter compared with a year earlier, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute. Mr. Crawford said his firm forecasts that corporate debt defaults will remain below average for at least the next three years.

Much of the restructuring work that kept AlixPartners busy during the financial crisis has dried up. The firm advised General Motors, General Growth Properties and other corporate behemoths that filed for bankruptcy protection.

“If we didn’t think about how to reinvent ourselves in a world where traditional restructuring demand was relatively low due to economic policies, we would have been in trouble,” Mr. Crawford said.

AlixPartners is increasingly focused on aiding companies before they face crises and improving a struggling unit of an otherwise healthy business. The strategy has allowed the consulting firm to continue growing revenue at a double-digit pace, he said.

Access to new or refinanced loans is a change from the financial crisis when lenders often pushed troubled companies to file for bankruptcy, sometimes in an effort to exchange debt for an ownership stake.

But the easy money allows businesses to put off difficult decisions, Mr. Crawford said. A sudden spike in interest rates or a tightening of credit could cause corporate bankruptcy filings to surge, though he said that’s not likely for several years.

Video: At WSJ’s CEO Council, AlixPartners CEO Fred Crawford sits down with WSJ’s Sara Murray to discuss the wary American consumer, the impact of Washington gridlock on business and innovative companies in the U.S.